No.  5 


WAR     INFORMATION     SERIES 
^^    000  622  m    ,^' 

A  WAR  OF 
SELF-DEFENSE 


By 

ROBERT  LANSING 

SECRETARY  OF  STATE 

and 


.V 


.^"^ 


»• 


SN^ 


LOUIS  F.  POST  C^X^ 

ASSISTANT  SECRETARY  OF  LABOB\V   .v^^** 


lLIS. 


THE  COMMITTEE  ON  PUBLIC  INFORMATION 

(Established  by  order  of  the  President  April  4,  1917.) 

Distributed  free  except  that  in  the  case  of  No.  2  and  No.  3  of  the 

Red,   White,  and  Blue  Series,   the   subscriber  should   forward    15 

cents  each  to  cover  the  cost  of  printing. 

I.  Red,  White,  and  Blue  Series: 

No.  1.  How  the  War  Came  to  America  (English,  German, 
Polish,    Bohemian,    Italian,    Spanish,    and    Swedish). 

No.  2.  National  Service  Handbook  (primarily  for  libraries, 
schools,  T.  M.  C.  A.  's,  clubs,  fraternal  organiza- 
tions, etc.,  as  a  guide  and  reference  work  on  all 
forms  of  war  activity — civil,  charitable,  and  mili- 
tary. 

No.  3.  The  Battle  Line  of  Democracy.  Prose  and  Poetry  of 
the   Great   War. 

No.  4.  The  President 's  Flag  Day  Speech  with  Evidence  of  Ger- 
many 's  Plans. 

No.  5.  Conquest  and  Kultur,  the  Germans'  Aims  in  Their  Own 
Words,  by  Wallace  Notestein  and  Elmer  E.  Stoll. 

Other  issues  in  preparation. 

II.  War  Information  Series: 

No.  1.  The  War  Message  and  Pacts  Behind  It.  • 

No.  2.  The  Nation   in  Arms,  by  Secretaries  Lane  and  Baker. 
No.  3.  The    Government    of    Germany,    by    Prof.    Charles    D. 

Hazen. 
No.  4.  The  Great  War:  from  Spectator  to  Participant. 
No.  5.  A    War    of    Self -Defense,    by    Secretary    Lansing    and 

Assistant  Secretary  of  Laboi  Louis  F.  Post. 
No.  6.  American  Loyalty  by  Citizens  of  German  Descent. 
No.  7.  Amerikanische    Biirgertreue,    a    translation    of    No.    6. 
No.  8.  Anjgrican  Interest  in  Popular  Government  Abroad,  by 

Prof.  E.  B.  Greene. 
No.  9.  Home  Reading  Course  for  Citizen  Soldiers. 
No.  10.  First  Session  of  the  War  Congress,  by  Charles  Merz. 

Other  issues  will  appear  shortly. 

in.    Official  Bulletin: 

Accurate  daily  statement  of  what  all  agencies  of  govern- 
ment are  doing  in  war  times.  Sent  free  to  newspapers 
and  postmasters  (to  be  put  on  bulletin  boards).  Sub- 
scription price,  $5  per  year. 


Address  requests  and  orders  to 

COMMITTEE  ON  PUBLIC  INFORMATION, 

Washington,    I).    C 


AMERICA'S  FUTURE  AT  STAKE. 


SRLF 
YRL 


BY    ROBERT  LANSING, 

Secretary  of  State. 


"We  must  all  realize  that  we  are  living  in  the  most  momen- 
tous time  in  all  history,  in  a  time  when  the  lives  and  destinies 
of  nations  are  in  the  balance,  when  even  the  civilization, 
which  has  taken  centui-ies  to  build,  may  crumble  before 
the  terrible  storm  which  is  sweeping  over  Europe.  We 
are  not  only  living  in  this  critical  period  but  we,  as  a 
nation,  have  become  a  participant  in  the  struggle.  Having 
cast  our  lot  on  the  side  of  the  powers  allied  against 
the  Imperial  German  Government,  we  will  put  behind  our 
decision  the  full  power  and  the  resources  of  the  Republic. 
We  intend  to  win  in  this  mighty  conflict,  and  we  will  win 
because  our  cause  is  the  cause  of  justice  and  of  right  and  of 
humanity. 

I  wonder  how  many  of  us  comprehend  what  the  outcome 
of  this  war  means  to  mankind,  or,  to  bring  it  nearer  to  each 
one  of  us,  what  it  means  to  our  eountrv.  I  sometimes  think 
that  there  prevail  very  erroneous  impressions  as  to  the  rea- 
sons why  we  entered  the  war — not  the  immediate  reasons, 
but  the  deep,  underlying  reasons  which  affect  the  life  and 
future  of  the  United  States  and  of  all  other  liberty-loving 
nations  throughout  the  world. 

Of  course,  the  immediate  cause  of  our  war  against  Ger- 
many was  the  announced  purpose  of  the  German  Govern- 
ment to  break  its  promises  as  to  indiscriminate  submarine  war- 
fare and  the  subsefiuent  renewal  of  that  ruthless  method  of 
destruction  with  increased  vigor  and  brutality. 

While  this  cause  was  in  itself  sufficient  to  force  us  to 
enter  the  war  if  we  would  preserve  our  self-respect,  the 
German  Government's  deliberate  breach  of  faith  and  its 
utter  disregard  of  right  and  life  had  a  far  deeper  meaning,  a 
meaning  which  had  been  growing  more  evident  as  the 
war  had  progressed  and  which  needed  but  this  act  of  perfidy 
to  bring  it  home  to  all  thinking  Americans.     The  evil  char- 


acter  of  the  German  Government  is  laid  bare  before  the 
world.  "We  know  now  that  that  Government  is  inspired 
with  ambitions  which  menace  human  liberty,  and  that  to 
gain  its  end  it  does  not  hesitate  to  break  faith,  to  violate 
the  most  sacred  rights,  or  to  perpetrate  intolerable  acts  of 
inhumanity. 

It  needed  but  the  words  reported  to  have  been  uttered  by 
the  German  Chancellor  to  complete  the  picture  of  the  charac- 
ter of  his  Government  when  he  announced  that  the  only 
reason  why  the  intensified  submarine  campaign  was  de- 
layed until  February  last  was  that  sufficient  submarines 
could  not  be  built  before  that  time  to  make  the  attacks  on 
commerce  eifective.  Do  you  realize  that  this  means,  if  it 
means  anything,  that  the  promises  to  refrain  from  brutal 
submarine  warfare,  which  Germany  had  made  to  the  United 
States,  were  never  intended  to  be  kept,  that  they  were  only 
made  in  order  to  gain  time  in  which  to  build  more  subma- 
rines, and  that  when  the  time  came  to  act  the  German 
promises  were  unhesitatingly  torn  to  pieces  like  other 
"scraps  of  paper." 

It  is  this  disclosure  of  the  character  of  the  Imperial  Ger- 
man Government  which  is  the  underlying  cause  of  our 
entry  into  the  war.  We  had  doubted,  or  at  least  many 
Americans  had  doubted,  the  evil  purposes  of  the  rulers  of 
Germany.  Doubt  remained  no  longer.  In  the  light  of 
events  we  could  read  the  past  and  see  that  for  a  quarter  of 
a  century  the  absorbing  ambition  of  military  oligarchy 
which  was  the  master  of  the  German  Empire  was  for  world 
dominion.  Every  agency  in  the  fields  of  commerce,  indus- 
try, science,  and  diplomacy  had  been  directed  by  the  Ger- 
man Government  to  this  supreme  end.  Philosophers  and 
preachers  taught  that  the  destiny  of  Germany  was  to  rule  the 
world,  thus  preparing  the  mind  of  the  German  people  for 
the  time  when  the  mighty  engine  which  the  German  Govern- 
ment had  constructed  should  crush  all  opposition  and  the  Ger- 
man Emperor  should  rule  supreme. 

For  nearly  three  years  we  have  watched  the  conduct  of 
the  Imperial  Government,  and  we  have  learned  more  and 
more  of  the  character  of  that  Government  and  of  its  aims. 
We  came  verv  sloAvly  to  a  realizing  sense  that  not  only  was 
the    freedom    of    the    European    nations    at    stake    but    that 


liberty  throiijGrlunit  the  world  was  threatened  by  the  powerful 
autocracy  which  was  seeking  to  gratify  its  vast  ambition. 

Not  impulsively  but  with  (h'liberation  the  American  peo- 
ph^  reached  the  only  decision  which  was  possible  from  the 
standpoint  of  their  own  national  safety.  Congref?s  de- 
clared that  a  state  of  war  existed  between  the  United  States 
and  the  Imperial  Government  of  Germany,  and  this  coim- 
try  united  with  the  other  liberal  nations  of  the  earth  to 
crush  the  power  which  sought  to  erect  (m  the  ruins  of  de- 
mocracy a  world  empire  greater  than  that  of  Greece  or 
Rome  or  the  caliphs. 

The  President  has  said,  with  the  wonderful  aoility  which 
he  has  to  express  aptly  a  great  thought  in  a  shigle  phrase,  that 
"the  world  must  be  made  safe  for  democracy."  In  that 
thought  there  is  more  than  the  establishment  of  liberty  and 
self-government  for  all  nations — there  is  in  it  the  hope  of 
an  enduring  peace. 

I  do  not  loiow  in  the  annals  of  history  an  instance  where  a 
people,  with  truly  democratic  institutions,  permitted  their 
government  to  wage  a  war  of  aggression,  a  war  of  conquest. 
Faitliful  to  their  treaties,  sympathetic  with  others  seeking 
self-development,  real  democracies,  whether  monarchial  or 
republican  in  their  forms  of  government,  desire  peace  with 
their  neighbors  and  with  all  mankind. 

Were  every  people  on  earth  able  to  express  their  will,  there 
would  be  no  wars  of  aggression,  and,  if  there  were  no  wars  of 
aggression,  then  there  would  be  no  wars,  and  lasting  peace 
would  come  to  tliis  eartli.  The  only  way  that  a  people  can 
express  their  will  is  through  democratic  institutions.  There- 
fore, when  the  M'orld  is  made  safe  for  democracy,  when  that 
great  principle  prevails,  universal  peace  will  be  an  accomplished 
fact. 

No  nation  or  people  will  benefit  more  than  the  Ignited 
States  when  that  time  comes.  But  it  has  not  yet  come.  A 
great  people,  ruled  in  thouglit  and  word,  as  well  as  in  deed,  by 
the  most  sinister  Govei-nment  of  modern  times,  is  strain- 
ing everv  nerve  to  supplant  democracy  by  the  autocracy 
which  they  have  been  taught  1o  worshi]>.  When  \\\]\  the 
Oerman  people  awaken  to  the  truth  ?  AMien  Avill  they  arise 
in  their  might  and  cast  off  the  yoke  and  become  their  own 
masters?     I  fear  that  it  will  not  be  until  the  physical  might 


of  the  united  democracies  of  the  world  has  destroyed  forever 
the  evil  ambitions  of  the  military  rulers  of  Germany  and  liberty 
triumphs  over  its  archenemy. 

And  yet  in  spite  of  these  truths  which  have  been  brought 
to  light  in  these  last  three  years  I  wonder  how  many  Ameri- 
cans feel  that  our  democracy  is  in  peril,  that  our  liberty  needs 
protection,  that  the  United  States  is  in  real  danger  from  the 
malignant  forces  which  are  seeking  to  impose  their  will  upon 
the  world,  as  they  have  upon  Germany  and  her  deceived 
allies. 

Let  us  understand  once  for  all  that  this  is  no  war  to  estab- 
lish an  abstract  principle  of  right.  It  is  a  war  in  which  the  j^ 
future  of  the  United  States  is  at  stake.  If  any  among  you 
has  the  idea  that  we  are  fighting  others'  battles  and  not  our 
own,  the  sooner  he  gets  away  from  that  idea  the  better  it  will 
be  for  him,  the  better  it  will  be  for  all  of  us. 

Imagine  Germany  victor  in  Europe  because  the  United 
States  remained  neutral.  Who  then,  think  you,  would  be 
the  next  victim  of  those  who  are  seeking  to  be  masters  of  the 
whole  earth?  Would  not  this  country  with  its  enormous 
wealth  arouse  the  cupidity  of  an  impoverished  though  tri- 
umphant Germany?  Would  not  this  democracy  be  the  only 
obstacle  between  the  autocratic  rulers  of  Germany  and  their 
supreme  ambition?  Do  you  think  that  they  would  withhold 
their  hand  from  so  rich  a  prize  ? 

Let  me  then  ask  you,  would  it  be  easier  or  wiser  for  this 
country  single-handed  to  resist  a  German  Empire,  flushed  with 
victory  and  with  great  armies  and  navies  at  its  command,  than 
to  unite  with  the  brave  opponents  of  that  Empire  in  ending 
now  and  for  all  time  this  menace  to  our  future  ? 

Primarily,  then,  every  man  who  crosses  the  ocean  to  fight 
on  foreign  soil  against  the  armies  of  the  German  Emperor 
goes  forth  to  fight  for  his  country  and  for  the  preservation 
of  those  things  for  w^hich  our  forefathers  were  willing  to 
die.  To  those  who  thus  offer  themselves  we  owe  the  same 
debt  that  we  owe  to  those  men  who  in  the  past  fought  on 
American  soil  in  the  cause  of  liberty.  No,  not  the  same  debt, 
but  a  greater  one.  It  calls  for  more  patriotism,  more  self- 
denial,  and  a  truer  vision  to  wage  war  on  distant  shores  than 
to  repel  an  invader  or  defend  one's  home.  I,  therefore,  con- 
gratulate you,   young  men,   in  your  choice  of  service.     You 


have  done  a  splendid  thing.  You  have  earned  already  the 
gratitude  of  your  countryim'n  and  ol  generations  of  Anicjri- 
cans  to  come.  Your  l)attl('  Hags  will  bi't-ome  the  cherished 
trophies  of  a  nation  whieh  will  never  forget  those  who  bore 
them  in  the  cause  of  liberty. 

I  know  that  some  among  you  may  consider  the  idea  that 
Germany  would  attack  us,  if  she  won  this  wai-,  to  be  improb- 
able; but  let  him  *^  who  doubts  remember  that  the  improb- 
able, yes,  the  impossible,  has  been  happening  in  this  war 
from  the  beginning.  If  you  had  been  told  prior  to  August, 
1914,  that  the  German  Government  would  disregard  its 
solemn  treaties  and  send  its  armies  into  Belgium,  w^ould 
wantonly  burn  Louvain,  would  murder  defenseless  people, 
would  extort  ransoms  from  conquered  cities,  would  carry 
away  men  and  women  into  slavery,  would,  like  vandals  of 
old,  destroy  some  of  history's  most  cherished  moimments, 
and  would  with  malicious  purpose  lay  waste  the  fairest  fields 
of  France  and  Belgium,  you  would  have  indignantly  denied 
the  possibility.  You  Avould  have  exclaimed  that  Germans, 
lovers  of  art  and  learning,  would  never  permit  such  foul 
deeds.  To-day  you  know  that  the  unbeli(!vable  has  happened, 
that  all  these  crimes  have  been  committed,  not  under  the  im- 
pulse of  passion,  but  under  official  orders. 

Again,  if  you  had  been  told  before  the  war  that  German 
submarine  commanders  would  sink  peaceful  vessels  of  com- 
merce and  send  to  sudden  death  men,  women,  and  little 
children,  you  would  have  declared  such  scientific  brutality 
to  be  impossible.  Or,  if  you  had  been  told  that  German 
aviators  would  fiy  over  thickly  populated  cities  scattering 
missiles  of  death  and  destruction  with  no  other  purpose  than 
to  terrorize  the  innocent  inhabitants,  you  would  have  de- 
nounced the  very  thought  as  unworthy  of  belief  and  as  a 
calumny  upon  German  honor.  Yet,  God  help  us,  these 
things  have  come  to  pass,  and  iron  crosses  have  rewarded 
the  perpetrators. 

But  there  is  more,  far  more,  whieh  might  be  added  to  this 
record  of  unbelievable  things  which  the  German  Government 
has  done.  I  only  need  to  mention  the  attempt  of  the  foreign 
ofiiee  at  Berlin  to  bribe  ]\[exico  to  nuike  war  upon  us  by 
promising  her  American  territory.  It  was  only  one  of  many 
intrigues    which    the    German    Government    Avas    carrying    on 


'»' 


8 

in  many  lands.  Spies  and  conspirators  were  sent  through- 
out the  world.  Civil  discord  was  encouraged  to  weaken  the 
potential  strength  of  nations  which  might  be  obstacles  to 
the  lust-  of  Germany's  rulers  for  world  mastery.  Those  of 
German  blood  who  owed  allegiance  to  other  countries  were 
appealed  to  to  support  the  fatherland,  which  beloved  name 
masked  the  military  clique  at  Berlin. 

Some  day  I  hope  that  the  whole  tale  may  be  told.  It  will 
be  an  astonishing  tale  indeed.  But  enough  has  been  told 
so  that  there  no  longer  remains  the  shadow  of  a  doubt  as  to 
the  character  of  Germany's  rulers,  of  their  amazing  ambi- 
tion for  world  empire,  and  of  their  intense  hatred  for 
democracy. 

The  day  has  gone  by  when  we  can  measure  possibilities 
by  past  experiences  or  when  we  believe  that  any  physical 
obstacle  is  so  great  or  any  moral  iniluence  is  so  potent  as  to 
cause  the  German  autocracy  to  abandon  its  mad  purpose  of 
world  conquest. 

It  was  the  policy  of  those  who  plotted  and  made  ready  for 
the  time  to  accomplish  the  desire  of  the  German  rulers  to 
lull  into  false  security  the  great  nations  which  they  intended 
to  subdue,  so  that  when  the  storm  broke  they  would  be  un- 
prepared. How  well  they  succeeded  you  know.  But  democ- 
racy no  longer  sleeps.  It  is  fully  awake  to  the  menace  which 
threatens  it.  The  American  people,  trustful  and  friendly, 
were  reluctant  to  believe  that  imperialism  again  threatened 
the  peace  and  liberty  of  the  world.  Conviction  came  to  them 
at  last,  and  with  it  prompt  action.  The  American  Nation 
arrayed  itself  with  the  other  great  democracies  of  the  earth 
against  the  genius  of  evil  which  broods  over  the  destinies 
of  central  Europe. 

No  thought  of  material  gain  and  no  thought  of  material 
loss  impelled  this  action.  Inspired  by  the  highest  motives 
American  manhood  prepared  to  risk  all  for  the  right.  I  am 
proud  of  my  country.  I  am  proud  of  my  countrymen.  I  am 
proud  of  our  national  character.  With  lofty  purpose,  with 
patriotic  fervor,  with  intense  earnestness  the  American 
democracy  has  drawn  the  sword,  which  it  will  not  sheathe 
until  the  baneful  forces  of  absolutism  go  down  defeated  and 
broken. 


Who  can  longer  doubt — and  tliorc  have  beon  many  who  have 
doul)U'd  in  tliese  critical  days — the  power  of  that  eternal  spirit 
of  freedom  which  lives  in  every  true  American  lieart? 

I  am  firml}'-  convinced  that  the  independence  of  no  nation 
is  safe,  that  the  liberty  of  no  individual  is  sure,  until  the  mili- 
tary despotism  which  holds  the  German  people  in  the  hollow  of 
its  hand  has  been  made  impotent  and  luirmless  forever.  Ap- 
peals to  justice,  to  moral  obligation,  to  honor,  no  longer  avail 
with  such  a  power.  There  is  but  one  way  to  restore  peace  to 
the  W'orld,  and  that  is  by  overcoming  the  physical  might  of 
German  imperialism  by  force  of  arms. 

For  its  own  safety,  as  well  as  for  the  cause  of  human  liberty, 
this  great  Republic  is  marshaling  its  armies  and  preparing  with 
all  its  vigor  to  aid  in  ridding  Germany,  as  well  as  the  world, 
of  the  most  ambitious  and  most  unprincipled  autocracy  which 
has  arisen  to  stay  the  wheels  of  progress  and  imperil  Christian 
civilization. 

It  is  to  this  great  cause  you,  who  arc  present  here  to-night, 
like  thousands  of  other  loyal  Americtins,  have  dedicated 
yourselves.  Upon  each  one  of  you  much  depends.  You  are 
going  forth  into  foreign  lands,  not  only  as  guardians  of  the 
flag  of  your  country  and  of  the  liberties  of  your  countrymen, 
but  as  guardians  of  the  national  honor  of  the  United  States. 
American  character  will  be  judged  by  your  conduct;  Amer- 
ican spirit  by  your  deeds.  As  you  maintain  yourselves  cour- 
ageously and  honorably,  so  will  you  bring  glory  to  the  flag 
whicli  we  all  love  as  the  emblem  of  our  national  imity  and 
independence. 

T  know  that  it  is  unnecessary  to  emphasize  the  responsibili- 
ties which  will  rest  upon  you  as  you  lead  the  men  under  your 
command.  To  their  officers  they  will  look  for  guidance  and 
example,  not  only  in  the  battle  line,  but  in  the  camp  and  on 
the  march.  Your  responsibilities  are  great.  As  you  meet 
them  so  will  your  services  be  measured  by  your*country. 

It  is  in  the  toil  and  danger  of  so  great  an  adventure  as  you 
are  soon  to  experience  that  a  man's  true  character  will 
become  manifest.  He  will  be  brought  face  to  face  with  the 
realities.  The  little  things  wiiich  once  engrossed  his  thought 
and  called  forth  his  energies  Avill  ])e  forgotten  in  the  stern 
events  of  his  new  life.  The  sterimess  of  it  all  will  not 
deprive  him  of  the  satisfaction  which  comes  from  doing  his 

8.368°— 17 2 


10 

best.  As  he  found  gratification  and  joy  in  tlie  peaceful  pur- 
suits of  the  old  life,  so  will  he  find  a  deeper  gratification  and 
greater  joy  in  serving  his  country  loyally  and  doing  his  part 
in  molding  the  future  aright. 

And,  when  your  task  is  completed,  when  the  grim  days  of 
battle  are  over,  and  you  return  once  more  to  the  quiet  life 
of  your  profession  or  occupation,  which  you  have  so  gener- 
ously abandoned  at  your  country's  call,  you  will  find  in  the 
gratitude  of  your  countrymen  an  ample  reward  for  the  great 
sacrifice  which  you  have  made. 

If  enthusiasm  and  ardor  can  make  success  sure,  then  we, 
Americans,  have  no  cause  for  anxiety,  no  reason  to  doubt 
the  outcome  of  the  conflict.  But  enthusiasm  and  ardor  are 
not  all,  they  must  bo  founded  on  a  profound  conviction  of 
the  righteousness  of  our  cause  and  on  an  implicit  faith  that 
the  God  of  Battles  will  strengthen  the  arm  of  him  who  fights 
for  the  right.  In  the  time  of  stress  and  peril,  when  a  man 
stands  face  to  face  with  death  in  its  most  terrible  forms, 
God  will  not  desert  him  who  puts  his  trust  in  Him.  It  is 
at  such  a  time  that  the  eternal  verities  will  be  disclosed. 
It  is  then,  when  you  realize  that  existence  is  more  than  this 
life  and  that  over  our  destinies  Avatches  an  all-powerful  and 
compassionate  God,  you  will  stand  amidst  the  storm  of  battle 
unflinching  and  unafraid. 

There  is  no  higher  praise  that  can  be  bestowed  upon  a 
soldier  of  the  Republic  than  to  say  that  he  served  his  coun- 
try faithfully  and  trusted  in  his  God.  Such  I  earnestly  hope 
will  be  the  praise  to  which  each  one  of  you  will  be  entitled  when 
peace  returns  to  this  suffering  earth,  and  mankind  rejoices  that 
the  world  is  made  safe  for  democracy. 


THE  GERMAN  ATTACK. 


BY  LOUIS  F.  POST, 

Assistant  Secretary  of  Labor. 


The  United  States  has  gone  into  the  world  war  in  self- 
defense.  Other  purposes  are  more  ideal  and  also  just;  but 
this  is  the  cause  that  gives  us  our  warrant  of  war  by  even  the 
narrowest  rules  of  international  orderliness  which  civiliza- 
tion has  yet  evolved.  We  are  resi.sting  armed  invasion.  The 
necessity  for  it  is  evident  from  the  most  familiar  facts  of 
German  history.  For  half  a  centurj'-  German  empire 
builders  have  made  no  secret  of  their  policy  of  world  con- 
quest. For  the  past  three  years  the  German  Government 
has  given  to  their  policy  of  world  conquest  vigorous  life 
in  Belgium  and  in  France.  And  when  that  policy  and  those 
invasions  are  considered  in  connection  with  the  defiant  and 
death-dealing  assaults  by  the  German  Government  upon  the 
sovereignty  "of  the  United  States  in  February  and  ^larch, 
1917,  the  defensive  necessity  of  our  entering  the  war  is 
demonstrated. 

Historically,  those  culminating  events  hark  back  to  the 
Franco-Prussian  War.  That  struggle  of  nearly  half  a  cen- 
tury ago,  provoked  by  Bismarck  with  a  trick  as  all  the  world 
now  knows,  was  the  initial  grand  play  in  the  Prussian  mili- 
tary game  for  world  empire.  At  its  close  the  Prussian  ]>lans 
for  larger  conquests  began  taking  on  distinctive  shape.  They 
had  developed  out  of  a  political  philosophy  which  empha- 
sizes the  autocratic  doctrine  of  duties  in  opposition  to  the 
democratic  doctrine  of  rif/hfs.  Elsewhere  the  doctrine  of 
rights,  which  had  inspired  historic  revolts  against  feudalistic 
regimes  of  obedience,  was  becoming  hospitable  to  the  idea 
of  a  natural  balance  of  rights  and  duties — riglits  to  life,  for 
instance,    in    balance    with    corresponding    duties    to    let    live. 


1  Revised  and  reprinted  from  The  Public,  July  2T  and  August  3. 

(11) 


12 

But  in  Prussianized  Germany  the  feudal  principle  of  duty 
to  superiors  in  station  was  revived  as  a  new  discovery  and  in- 
vested with  new  sanctions. 

German  projectors  of  a  world  empire — philosophers,  mili- 
tarists, historians,  scholars,  statesmen,  courtiers — set  about 
the  inculcation,  not  always  by  logic  or  gentle  persuasion,  of 
autocratic  theories  of  duty  as  the  supreme  obligation  of  men. 
Distorted  echoes  of  those  teachings  were  often  heard  in 
American  imiversities  and  from  American  platforms  in  dis- 
couragement of  democratic  progress  here.  These  American 
echoes  usually  stressed  the  obligation  as  one  between  indi- 
viduals, which  is  after  all  not  so  very  different  essentially 
from  the  principle  of  a  balance  of  duties  and  rights.  But 
this  was  not  the  thought  that  the  molders  of  Prussian  em- 
pire stressed.  The  essence  of  their  theory  of  duties  is  mili- 
taristic. It  implies  a  duty  of  obedience  to  the  word  of  com- 
mand. It  requires  subordination  at  all  times  and  in  all 
things  to  "the  state,"  which,  in  the  Prussianistic  imagina- 
tion, is  personified  bj^  the  Kaiser.  Exalting  "the  state"  as 
the  prime  object  of  individual  devotion  and  the  Kaiser  as 
its  visible  deity,  these  Prussian  promoters  of  despotism 
established,  almost  in  the  center  of  Europe  and  in  an  age  of 
developing  democracy,  a  reactionary  empire  of  "divine 
right,"  which  they  dedicated  to  a  world-conquering  purpose. 

Though  the  King  of  Prussia  bj^  "divine  right"  of  birth 
is  German  Kaiser  only  by  constitutional  derivation,  this 
makes  no  difference.  The  German  constitution  is  of  a  texture 
and  the  despotic  Prussian  spirit  of  a  character  to  invest  the 
Kaiser  with  the  King's  inherited  divinity.  There  is,  to  be 
sure,  a  constitutional  parliament  for  Germany ;  but  it  is 
ruled  by  an  imperial  chancellor  responsible  to  the  Kaiser, 
whose  appointment  he  holds,  whose  purposes  he  serves,  and 
who  can  dismiss  him  at  will.  Except  for  a  fragile  right  of 
veto,  it  has  no  more  legislative  power  than  a  village  de- 
bating society.  In  Prussian  municipal  governments,  too,  the 
Kaiser  controls  the  governing  officials.  Nor  is  this  auto- 
cratic "state"  political  alone.  It  is  also  supreme  in  its  in- 
fluence upon  education  and  morals.  Children's  minds  are 
molded  by  its  educational  processes  in  accordance  with  the 
Government's  conception  of  what  is  best  for  "the  state" — 
not  for  the  child,  unless  by  lucky  coincidence,  but  for  "the 


13 

state."  Xike  its  political  adjustments,  the  I'nissianized  edu- 
cational machinery  is  pyramided  up  to  the  Kaiser.  From 
elementary  schools  its  wheels  revolve  Avitii  automatic  re^- 
larity  and  mechanical  precision  through  higher  schools  and 
universities  to  a  place  in  the  exfiuisilely  geared  machinery 
of  "the  state,"  at  which  all  is  moved  and  mastered  by  the 
Kaiser's  touch  of  a  governmental  button.  The  Kai.ser  him- 
self is  under  the  influence  of  a  dominant  caste — agrarian  and 
military — of  which,  in  virtue  of  his  birth,  he  is  the  most 
worshipful  grandmaster. 

Caste  gradations  are  characteristic  of  this  mystical  Ger- 
man "state."  To  the  Prussianistic  institutions  of  Germany 
they  are  what  democracy  is  to  the  countries  more  advanced  in 
civilization — the  spirit  of  the  place,  the  thought  to  conjure 
with,  the  sign  to  conquer  by.  Tliey  do  not  belong  with  those 
mere  survivals  of  caste  which  distort  the  democracy  of 
other  countries,  but  are  a  system  of  caste  government  which 
is  cultivated  as  a  social  and  political  necessity  and  as  one  of 
the  indispensable  factors  of  "kultur."  The  German  child 
is  educated  for  the  caste  in  which  he  is  born.  Prejudices  of 
higher  toward  lower  grades  of  caste  and  subserviency  from 
the  lower  to  the  higher  are  sedulously  fostered  for  "state" 
reasons.  I^niversity  professors  are  flanged  for  caste  grooves. 
Clergymen  and  school  teachers  are  congealed  in  caste  molds. 
Workingmen  are  graded  off  and  graded  through  by  caste 
variations.  Women  are  strait-jacketed  in  caste  of  sex, 
appendant  in  series  to  the  caste  levels  of  their  respective 
men  folk.  And  complexities  of  military  caste,  interweaved 
with  a  land-nobility  caste,  rule  the  others — .subject,  of 
course,  to  the  Kaiser,  who  is  at  the  apex  of  these  caste 
gradations. 

Out  of  it  all  has  come  a  stupendous  social  and  political 
machine.  Individual  impulses  have  been  ossified  and  moral 
perceptions  inverted.  Even  the  scientific  and  the  religious 
groups  have  been  shaped  on  caste  lines.  And  this  machine 
is  efficient.  No  blame  to  such  as  worship  efficiency  for 
the  sake  of  efficiency  if  they  bow  the  head  and  bend  the 
knee  at  the  altars  of  the  German  system.  There  are  those, 
however,  who  value  efficiency  not  for  its  own  sake  but  for 
the  sake  of  the  worthiness  of  its  objects  and  the  usefulness 
of   its   accomplishments.     To   such    as   these   the    prospect    of 


14 

a  world-wide  imposition  of  a  Prussianistic  "state"  by 
military  conquest  is  not  inviting.  It  would  be  abhorrent  to 
every  democratic  instinct  and  at  variance  with  every  demo- 
cratic thought. 

Yet  precisely  that  purpose  has  been  the  manifest  object  of 
German  efficiency.  In  so  far  as  it  has  served  useful  ends 
in  social  life  those  ends  have  been  served  as  incidents  to  the 
purpose  of  world  conquest.  Except  in  so  far  as  the  efficiency 
has  been  for  the  mere  sake  of  being  efficient,  or  for  the  sake 
of  subordinating  the  German  people — body,  mind,  and 
soul — to  the  dominion  of  a  caste-bound  "state,"  its  uncon- 
cealed design  has  been  to  make  military  conquest  of  the  rest 
of  mankind.  The  Prussianized  German  Government  coveted 
"a  place  in  the  sun"  where  its  shadow  would  hang  over 
all  the  earth;  and  efficiency  for  military  conquest  was  its 
method.  Conquest  was  not  the  purpose  of  the  masses  of  the 
German  people.  But  it  was  the  purpose  of  their  ruling 
caste  and  its  ro,yal  chief;  and  the  German  people,  obsessed 
with  Prussian  "kultur, "  were  an  impotent  factor  in  giving 
political  form  to  their  instinctive  love  of  democracy  and 
peace.  So  the  Government  of  Germany  has,  for  purposes 
of  world  conquest,  been  able  to  devote  years  of  time  and 
volumes  of  human  energy  to  making  marvelously  efficient  a 
gigantic  war  machine.  By  inculcating  an  automatic  sense  of 
duty  to  "the  state,"  through  the  ramifications  of  mechan- 
ized "kultur,"  and  developing  a  spirit  of  military  conquest 
as  a  necessity  of  normal  German  life  and  national  existence, 
it  has  sustained  in  Germany,  in  times  of  peace,  that  ab- 
normal public  opinion  which  in  countries  like  ours  is  sus- 
tained only  in  times  of  war.  It  has  taught  the  German 
people  to  think  of  might  as  the  only  measure  of  right  and 
of  war  as  a  necessary  element  in  the  life  of  nations  and  an 
indispensable  factor  of  "kultur."  It  has  impressed  upon 
them  the  duty  of  making  aggressive  war  not  only  for  the 
good  of  Germany,  but  for  the  good  of  the  human  race.  And, 
teaching  the  vital  importance  of  seizing  "the  most  favorable 
moment"  for  beginning  wars  of  conquest,  it  encouraged 
a  Germany-wide  toasting  of  "the  Day"  when  the  conquering 
movement  should  begin. 

After  more  than  40  years  of  such  preparation  for  forcibly 
extending  Prussian  imperialism  over  the  world,   "the  Day" 


15 

came.  The  "most  favorable  juoiiK'nt"  for  furtlu-r  i'ru.ssian 
conquest  was  seen  and  seized  by  the  military  easte  of  the 
empire.  The  German  Government,  a  young  and  vigorous 
despotism,  armed  to  the  teeth,  was  ready  and  eager  to  Ix-gin 
its  next  war  of  eonciuest.  Kussia,  a  d«,'crcpit  autocraey,  had 
but  reeently  sulfeivd  military  disaster.  France,  so  far  ad- 
vanced from  her  old  lust  for  revenge  that  the  antiwar  party 
had  just  won  thl'  parliamentary  elections,  was  neither  in- 
clined to  make  war  nor  prei)ared  for  waging  one.  Great 
Britain,  her  parties  in  power  (Liberal,  Labor,  and  Irish),  all 
antiwar  parties  on  the  whole  and  in  every  respect  the  an- 
tithesis of  the  party  in  power  in  Germany  —  was  averse  to 
war  and,  without  further  preparation,  hardly  capable  of  .suc- 
cessfully waging  even  defensive  warfare.  Circumstances  had 
thus  conspired  to  make  this  moment  "the  most  favorable" 
possible  for  the  German  Government  to  begin  its  war  move 
for  world  conquest.  Had  any  doubt  renuiined,  an  incident 
occurred  to  stitle  it.  Just  at  this  "most  favorable  moment," 
M'hen  the  German  Government  was  hairtrigger  ready  for 
war,  and  France,  the  nation  first  to  be  crushed,  was  wholly 
unready,  as  was  Great  Britain  also,  a  royal  prince  was  assas- 
sinated. The  crime  was  in  no  sense  a  cause  for  war ;  but  to 
the  German  war  lords  it  was  a  good  enough  excuse.  As 
one  member  of  the  German  Parliament  dared  to  say  to  them 
with  bitter  irony,  they  welcomed  that  assassination  as  "a 
gift  from  heaven."  A  war  of  conquest  was  what  tluH' 
wanted,  and  a  Avar  of  conquest  they  made.  Had  not  "the 
Day"  arrived?  Was  not  "the  most  favorable  moment"  at 
hand? 

In  the  twinkling  of  an  eye  the  Kaiser's  military  machine 
assembled.  Every  man  dropped  into  "his  place"  at  the 
word  Almost  before  the  western  world  suspected  a  possi- 
bility of  Avar,  the  German  GoA^ernment  had  seized  Belgium 
and  sent  a  hugi^  army  of  in\'asion  on  its  conciuering  Avay 
tOAvard  Paris.  In  a  moiitli  llie  invader  Avas  to  have  been 
again  in  that  city  Avhieh  nearly  50  years  before  he  had 
beleaguered  and  starved  into  surrender.  From  there  he  Avas 
to  haA'e  offered  a  German  j^eace.  Its  conditions  Avould  have 
been  franied  to  crush  France  so  completely  that  she  could 
ncA'cr  resist  a  German  march  of  conquest  again.  The  least 
of  its  exactions  Avould  haA'e  been  a  strategic  harbor  on  the 


16 


English  channel — a  point  from  which  the  next  war  of  Ger- 
man conquest  westward  could  be  waged  with  advantage 
against  Great  Britain.  And  this  German  peace — a  truce 
between  conquests — would  have  endured  until  another  "most 
favorable  moment"  for  conquest  had  made  further  invasion 
by  the  German  Government ' '  necessary  for  the  German  people ' ' 
and  ' '  the  good  of  the  human  race. ' '  The  treaty  of  peace  would 
then  have  been  another  "scrap  of  paper." 

But  the  unexpected  happened.  The  efficient  war  machine 
somehow  proved  inefficient  at  a  decisive  moment.  The  Ger- 
man march  of  conquest  from  Berlin  to  the  Atlantic  coast 
was  checked.  Only  checked,  however,  for  the  invader  has 
not  yet  gone   back  into  his  own   country.    His  war   of  con- 


quest in  western  Europe  still  hangs  in  the  balance.  For  three 
years  he  has  occupied  Belgium  and  northern  France.  His 
possession  is  without  the  slightest  color  of  any  right  but 
military  might.  He  can  neither  justify  nor  excuse  his  inva- 
sion by  even  the  semblance  of  a  defensive  plea.  His  hold 
upon  those  countries  accords  with  no  other  explanation  than 
a  stupendous  attempt  to  realize  in  part  his  long-fostered 
policy  of  world  conquest. 

And  now,  pursuant  to  that  policy  and  for  its  more  com- 
plete realization,  he  has  thrown  his  western  battle  line  be- 
yond Belgium,  beyond  Prance,  beyond  Great  Britain,  many 
leagues  out  upon  the  Atlantic  Ocean  toward  the  United 
States. 


17 

This  advance  of  the  German  westward  from  his  own  fron- 
tiers into  and  through  liclirium,  into  northern  PVance,  and. 
OVerk'ai)iiig  tht'  rest  of  France,  out  upon  tiie  Atlantic  to  tiit- 
twentietii  meridian,  is  indicated  by  the  shaded  part  of  the  ac- 
companying map. 

By  the  menacing  extension  of  liis  battle  line  out  up(jn  the 
Atlantic  Ocean  toward  the  United  States,  and  his  claim  to 
military  sovereignt}^  over  the  intervening  waters,  the  Ger- 
man Kaiser  challenged  the  United  States  to  fight  or  fall 
back.  lie  thereby  claimed  this  area  of  the  ocean  as  a  Prus- 
sian lake.  Had  he  won  the  European  war  he  could  have 
extencied  his  claim  to  the  whole  ocean,  unless  we  ourselves 
had  subsequently  broken  the  peace  and  made  war  upon  him 
to  recover  what  for  the  sake  of  peace  with  him  we  had  un- 
resistingly yielded  at  a  more  favorable  time  for  defense. 
Had  he  lost  the  war,  with  what  grace  could  we  have  claimed 
restoration  by  the  victorious  allies  of  the  ocean  rights  which, 
during  their  war,  we  had  yielded  to  their  foe? 

But  our  concern  in  the  matter  come;;  closer  home  even 
than  that.  When  the  Kaiser  notified  the  Government  of  the 
United  States  that  after  February  1,  1917,  he  would  sink 
at  sight  American  vessels  entering  the  ocean  area  indicated 
by  the  shaded  parts  of  the  map  referred  to,  he  declared  war 
against  the  United  States.  When  within  that  area  he  began 
sinking  American  vessels  at  sight,  as  he  had  notified  our 
Government  he  would  do,  and  killed  American  crews  and 
passengers  sailing  on  them  under  the  American  flag,  he 
made  war  upon  the  T"'^nited  States.  It  was  on  his  part 
invasive  war,  a  war  of  conquest,  precisely  the  kind  of  war 
upon  this  country  which  he  had  made  two  and  a  half  years 
earlier  upon  Belgium  and  France. 

Before  that  declaration  of  war  and  those  acts  of  war,  we 
had  rea.son  to  fear  the  German  Government,  reason  for 
indignation,  reason  for  resentment.  We  might  have  gone  to 
war  with  no  slight  reasons ;  and  that  Ave  did  not  was  because 
our  Government  was  then,  as  it  still  is,  under  an  administra- 
tion which  does  not  revel  in  thoughts  of  war;  it  abhors  war. 
But  when  the  German  Government  advanced  its  invasive  bat- 
1le  line  out  upon  the  open  Atlantic  in  our  direction,  asserting 
its  sovereignty  there  as  it  was  asserting  it  in  Belgium   and 


18 

northern  France,  and  killing  American  citizens  on  American 
ships  under  the  American  liag  upon  waters  where  they  had 
as  good  right  to  be  as  in  their  own  cities,  States  or  harbors, 
then  a  new  element  came  into  the  case.  Our  Republic  was 
invasively  and  defiantly  put  upon  the  defensive.  The  most 
pacific  Administration  the  United  States  has  ever  had  could 
no  longer  keep  us  out  of  the  war  without  putting  us  into 
national  subjection  to  an  alien  power.  The  German  Govern- 
ment had  then  left  no  alternative  to  this  Government  but  war 
or  surrender. 

Our  ships  might  indeed  have  stayed  away  from  the  ocean 
area  over  which  the  German  Government  thus  asserted  exclu- 
sive sovereignty.  Their  crews  and  passengers  might  have 
remained  at  home  in  obedience  to  the  Kaiser's  command.  In 
obedience  to  that  command  our  Government  might  have  or- 
dered them  to  do  so.  But  none  of  this  w^ould  have  been  any 
safer  to  our  independence,  any  more  in  the  interest  of  peace 
between  this  country  and  Germany,  or  any  more  reasonable 
on  any  count,  than  if  the  Kaiser  had  ordered  us  to  stay  off 
all  the  ocean  outside  our  own  territorial  waters,  and  we  had 
obeyed. 

If  the  United  States  ought,  in  conscience  or  from  policies 
of  peace,  to  have  yielded  to  the  Kaiser's  extension  of  his 
invasive  battle  line  out  upon  the  ocean  to  the  twentieth  meri- 
dian in  our  direction,  we  should  have  had  no  reason  in  con- 
science or  peace  policy  for  forcibly  resisting  its  extension  at 
the  Kaiser's  command  to  the  thirtieth  degree,  nor  to  the 
sixtieth,  nor  even  to  the  very  3-mile  limit  off  our  own  coast 
line.  There  is  no  argument  in  opposition  to  our  war  against 
the  German  Kaiser  as  a  war  of  self-defense  which  would  not 
be  as  reasonable  if,  in  his  lust  of  world  conquest,  he  were 
immediately  approaching  our  water  frontiers  across  the  ocean, 
as  almost  three  years  ago,  obsessed  wdth  that  lust,  he  approached 
the  land  frontiers  of  France  across  Belgium. 


'^O' 


Of  course,  on  principles  of  nonresistance  the  United  States 
would  not  be  justified  in  either  case.  Nor  should  one  be 
hasty  to  deny  that  nonresistance  is  good  strategy  as  well  as 
good  morals.  It  has  sanctions  that  can  not  be  lightly 
ignored  and  there  are  historical  instances  of  its  potency. 
At  all  events  no  high-minded  person  or  noble-spirited  people 
will    countenance   bullving   denunciation    or  tolerate   maltreat- 


19 

mont  of  those  among  theiii  who  prcuoh  and  practice  non- 
I'esistance.  The  memory  of  Tolstoy  forldds.  But  the  poliey 
of  national  nonresistanee  to  wars  of  confiuest  is  not  yet  a 
social  factor.  Still  feeling  its  way  forward,  the  world  is 
unappreciative  of  any  better  defense  to  invasive  war  than 
defensive  war.  As  one  of  the  most  idealistic  and  dt^scrv'edly 
influential  new'spapers  of  our  country  and  time  has  phrased 
the  thought,  "The  world  has  not  reached  tiie  place  where 
might  can  be  met  with  argument,  or  where  the  wrath  of 
nations  can  be  turned  away  with  a  soft  answer."  It  is  by  the 
test  of  the  social  toe  mark  of  our  own  time  that  our  war 
against  the  German  invader  must  be  tried;  and  by  that  test 
the  war  we  w'age  is  a  necessary  war  because  it  is  a  war  of 
national  self-defense. 

That  there  are  more  ideal  justifications  has  been  intimated 
above.  Our  w^ar  is  no  less  just  than  necessary  as  a  war  of 
self-defense;  and  it  is  just  also  because  it  is  a  war  in  defense 
of  the  peaceable  democracies  of  the  world.  This  justifica- 
tion, eloquently  made  by  the  President  in  his  war  i)roclar>a- 
tion,  can  not  be  too  often  repeated,  nor  too  clearly  appi  v 
bended.  "We  are  now  about  to  accept  gauge  of  battle  with 
this  natural  foe  to  liberty,"  said  the  President,  "and  shall,  if 
necessary,  spend  the  whole  force  of  the  Nation  to  check 
and  nullify  its  pretensions  and  its  power.  We  are  glad, 
voiv  that  we  see  the  facts  with  no  veil  of  false  pretense 
about  them,  to  fight  thus  for  the  ultimate  peaee  of  the  world 
and  for  the  liberation  of  its  peoples,  the  German  people  in- 
cluded; for  the  rights  of  nations,  great  and  small,  and  tlie 
privilege  of  men  everywhere  to  choose  their  way  of  life  and 
obedience.  The  world  must  he  made  safe  for  dcmocracif" — 
an  injury  to  one  is  the  concern  of  all.  "Its  peace  must  be 
planted  upon  the  lasting  foundations  of  political  liberty. 
We  have  no  selfish  ends  to  serve.  We  desire  no  conquest, 
no  dominion" — our  war  is  not  of  the  Prussianistic  order. 
"We  shall  fight  for  the  things  which  Ave  have  always  carried 
nearest  our  hearts — for  democracy,  for  the  right  of  those 
who  submit  to  authority  to  have  a  voice  in  their  own  gov- 
ernments, for  the  rights  and  liberties  of  small  nations,  for  a 
^nliversal  dominion  of  right  by  such  a  concert  of  free  peoples 
as  shall  bring  peace  and  safety  to  all  nations  and  mah-r  ihr 
world  itself  at  last  free.'' 


20 

Those  are  the  ideals  for  which  we  are  to  struggle  while 
in  the  war.  They  are  the  ideals  for  which  we  are  to  stand 
in  adjusting  terms  of  peace  when  the  war  is  over.  And 
they  are  none  the  less  genuine  because  in  our  war  struggle 
in  their  behalf  we  temporarily  suspend  our  own  guaranties 
of  individual  liberty  in  order  to  make  the  war  effective  as  our 
people  would  have  it,  instead  of  a  failure  as  the  war 
lords  of  Germany  would  like  it  to  be.  This  is  part  of  the 
necessary  cost  of  all  wars  for  democracy.  Our  Revolutionary 
War,  with  its  democratic  purpose  and  outcome,  could  not 
have  been  won  by  democratic  methods.  The  French  Revolu- 
tion, with  its  democratic  aspirations  and  its  overthrow^  of 
ancient  feudalism,  was  it  not  sustained  eoercively?  Our 
Civil  War  for  a  "government  of  the  people,  for  the  people, 
and  by  the  people"  was  not  prosecuted  in  very  strict  accord- 
ance with  democratic  forms  or  deference  to  democratic 
guaranties.  It  is  not,  however,  with  the  higher  ideals  for 
which  we  are  now  at  war  that  this  discussion  is  especially 
concerned,  except  as  they  may  be  involved  in  the  necessity 
for  defending  ourselves  against  an  invading  foe.  Back  of 
those  ideals  are  the  plain  workaday  facts  to  which  the  Presi- 
dent referred  as  the  moving  cause  of  our  going  into  the  war, 
when  he  advised  Congress  that  "the  recent  course  of  the 
Imperial  Cerman  Government"  had  been  "in  fact  nothing 
less  than  ivar  against  the  Government  and  people  of  the 
United  States." 

On  those  facts,  the  Congress  of  the  United  States,  the 
only  authority  known  to  our  fundamental  law  for  such 
action,  and  through  the  only  process  that  would  have  been 
binding  upon  our  Government,  accepted  the  war  challenge 
of  the  German  Kaiser.  No  referendum  could  have  had  any 
legal  force.  Nor  would  it  have  had  any  probable  advisory 
value.  It  would  only  have  offered  another  opportunity  for 
Prussian  diplomacy.  The  obligation  was  upon  Congress;  the 
only  power  to  decide  was  in  Congress;  the  only  available 
reflection  of  public  opinion  short  of  revolution  was  through 
Congress.  And  Congress  accepted  this  challenge  of  war. 
It  did  so  in  no  private  interest  but  in  the  public  interest. 
It  did  so  because  the  German  Government  was  making  actual 
war  upon  the  Government  and  people  of  the  United  States. 


21 

The  cliallenge  was  not  accepted  while  it  remained  a  "Kcrap 
of  paper."  Biit  when  this  ehalienisre  of  war  was  vitaliz<'d  by 
deeds  of  Avar,  when  in  accordance  with  its  terms  of  detianee 
American  sliips  were  unuk  and  Ainericiin  lives  were  taken 
under  the  American  ilii^  by  the  (iovernmeiit  of  Germany 
Avithin  an  ocean  area  on  which  the  ri^jhts  ol"  this  eonntry  are 
as  indefeasible  as  its  rig:hts  to  its  own  territory,  but  over 
which  the  German  Goverinnent  had  invasively  assumed  ex- 
clusive sovereignty,  then  Congress  accepted  the  challenge  of 
war. 

There  w-as  no  possible  alternative.  This  self-consiituted 
enemy  of  ours,  after  long  fostering  a  policy  of  contjuest.  had 
actually  invaded  Belgium  and  France  pursuant  to  that  pol- 
'icy.  By  that  long-fostered  policy,  he  had  proved  his  invasive 
intent.  By  his  actual  invasion  he  had  transmuted  invasive 
intent  into  invasive  action.  By  his  diplomatic  negotiations 
with  ^Mexico  and  his  operations  within  the  United  States  he 
had  disclosed  his  invasive  intent  toward  the  United  States 
itself  as  one  of  the  objectives  of  his  general  policy.  By 
throwing  his  invasive  battle  line  out  upon  the  ocean  to  the 
twentieth  meridian,  in  the  direction  of  the  United  States, 
with  a  threat  to  the  Ignited  States,  he  confirmed  his  hostile 
intent  toward  this  covnitry.  His  destruction  of  American 
ships  and  American  lives  under  the  American  tiag  within 
that  ocean  area  was  the  overt  act  of  his  aggressive  war  ujion 
the  United  States.  For  us  to  have  ignored  the  manifest  in- 
tent after  it  had  been  vitalized  by  the  overt  act  would  have 
been  to  surrender  at  discretion.  So  our  war  with  the  auto- 
cratic German  Government,  if  it  involved  no  ideals  at  all  of 
the  loftier  or  less  selfish  type,  would  nevertheless  be  justified 
as  a  necessary  \var  of  national  self-defen.se. 

"We  are  resisting  invasion  as  truly  as  if  our  call  to  arms 
had  been  to  check  a  hostile  army  marching  northward 
through  ^Mexico  or  southward  from  Quebec.  And  in  sending 
soldiers  to  France  to  help  the  French,  the  British,  and  the 
Belgians  drive  the  invader  away  from  their  home  countries 
and  back  into  his,  we  are  defending  our  own  home  country 
under  the  same  necessity  as  if  we  were  advancing  into  Canada 
or  ^Mexico  to  meet  an  approaching  army  of  conquest.  While 
the  German  Kaiser  is  in  France  or  Belgium  he  is  a  menace 
to    the    United    States,    now    that    he    has    demonstrated    his 


22 

hostile  intent  toward  this  country ;  and  no  peace  can  be  made 
with  safety  to  our  independence  until  he  has  left  the  places 
he  has  invaded  and  gone  back  to  his  own  frontiers. 

It  might  possibly  have  been  better  to  assent  to  his  conquer- 
ing the  world,  nation  by  nation,  until  our  turn  came,  than 
to  enter  into  the  awful  carnage  which  resistance  to  his  foul 
ambitions  demands;  but  that  was  not  the  question.  We  were 
not  confronted  with  a  problem  of  war  or  no  war.  Our 
problem  was  one  of  resisting  conquest  now,  in  a  war  in  1  \^ 
Europe  and  with  allies,  or  later  on  in  our  own  country  and 
without  allies. 


